The angry buzz of lightsabers colliding sounded rhythmically, as Chloe and Rachel sparred in one of the Temple's training rooms. The room was spacious and rectangular, with a soft mat taking up most of the floor space, and a rack taking up most of the wall, bearing dozens of different lightsabers. At twelve years old, the padawans were yet to build their own lightsabers, so they dueled with the non-lethal, silver-bladed training sabers. Of course, there were many instances of Jedi younger than them embarking on The Gathering, to find their lightsaber crystals, but there was no particular rush to arm the children, while the galaxy was enjoying a spell of relative peace.
While Rachel faught with a more traditional sabre, with a spiraling hilt she'd liked the look of, Chloe had a rare preference for the double-ended lightsaber. Even without the blade, the weapon was almost as big as she was, but Chloe span, jabbed and slashed with it, with impressive confidence. Max sat cross-legged opposite the rack, studying Jedi history on her data tab, and occasionally lifting it, to capture scenes of the fight. All three of them wore the standard, brown Jedi robes, and a single braid in their hair, indicating their status as padawans.
Rachel swayed out of range of Chloe's attack, and lunged in what she thought was an opening, only to be blocked by Chloe's second blade.
"You know..." Rachel said, with a slightly bitter edge to her voice, "Some people might say that two blades bring an unfair advantage..."
Chloe ducked under Rachel's attack, and blocked the second.
"I think those people need to get better at fighting with one blade." Chloe teased, winking at Rachel.
The two weapons collided violently, and Rachel and Chloe stared each other down, each attempting to force the other backwards. Taking Rachel by surprise, Chloe leant back, dodging Rachel's blade, and spinning her own around, attacking from the other end. Rachel lifted her palm in the nick of time, seizing Chloe's wrist through the Force, and sending her sliding backwards on the balls of her feet, with a Force Push.
"Don't you think you're wasting your time, training with that?" Rachel asked, sincerely. "I didn't think Jedi are even allowed to use double-bladed sabers."
"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked, bemusedly. "Master Krell uses two of them!"
"Yeah, but he's like eight feet tall!" Rachel pointed out. "And you're..." she smiled patronisingly and held two fingers close together, "... not..."
With a determined smile that promised to make Rachel pay for her mockery, Chloe dashed forwards and swung again.
"Okay, besides Master Krell. What Jedi uses a double-bladed lightsaber?" Rachel challenged, as she parried Chloe's attacks.
"Bastila Shan?" Max interjected, meekly.
"Who?" Chloe asked.
"She was a Jedi in the Old Republic, who mastered Battle Meditation." Max explained, without looking up from her data pad. "She faught with a yellow, double-bladed lightsaber."
"What is it with you and this Old Republic?" Rachel asked, endeared.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's like, you know a bunch of cool facts about the galaxy right now, and the galaxy from 4,000 years ago, but hardly anything about the time in between."
Max shrugged defensively. "It's just an interesting era in history."
Chloe held her lightsaber against Rachel's again, hoping to engage in another battle of strength, but instead stumbled forwards, as Rachel pushed against Chloe's weapon, floating backwards, through the air, her wings delicately stretching outwards, before she placed her feet against the wall, and shot at Chloe like a missile. Chloe just barely parried, having to place a hand on the training room floor, to keep herself from falling.
"So, two blades is cheating, but wings aren't?" She complained, dryly.
Rachel hovered in the air, over Rachel. "If I was a Hutt, I'd tell you not to use your legs." She teased.
Rachel continued to use her wings for the duel, although they didn't offer her much speed. She skittered across the training room floor on her toes, unrestricted by friction or gravity, making her somewhat hard to predict.
Before long, Chloe faught Rachel into a corner, and began forcing her blade towards her opponent, despite Rachel's resistance. Rachel took one hand off her hilt and grabbed Chloe's.
"Hey!" Chloe protested.
Chloe mirrored Rachel, placing one hand over hers, around her weapon. Both weapons deactivated, and Chloe pulled Rachel into a playful headlock. The duel forgotten, the two of them wrestled each other to the training room floor, in a giggling heap, making Max laugh too.
As was all too often the case in the Jedi Temple, the fun was promptly derailed, by the unexpected appearance of an adult. "Intriguing form..." Came a muffled voice from the doorway, making the three of them jump. "I'll have to employ it, next time I see battle."
Standing in the doorway, was the Jedi Master, Plo Koon. Like most of his species, when away from their home world of Dorin, Master Plo's eyes were hidden behind metal grates, and his lower face was concealed by a ventilator, which filtered the oxygen out of the air, leaving a bumpy, brown forehead, and a pair of fleshy horns, on each side of his head, still visible.
Rachel, Chloe and Max quickly climbed to their feet, and bowed respectfully, their hands clasped in their laps, Rachel and Chloe blushing slightly.
"I'm assessing the padawans' progress in lightsaber combat. The two of you are showing remarkable progress." Plo Koon explained.
"Thank you Master."
"Thanks..."
Rachel and Chloe were relieved that the Jedi Master had been watching long enough to witness the prouder moments of the duel.
"So... is this assessment... because we're ready for our own lightsabers...?" Chloe asked, gingerly. She'd been chastised in the past, for being overly eager to possess a weapon.
The skin where Master Plo's eyebrows would be, if he had any, furrowed around his lenses. His facial expressions were something of a mystery to those who didn't spend a lot of time with him, a group which unfortunately included the three padawans.
"So, it would seem." The master eventually conceded.
"Heck yes!" Chloe cheered, punching the air, before immediately biting her tongue and bowing again. "Thanks... Master Plo..."
"The only padawan I've yet to assess, is padawan Celeste." Plo Koon turned to face Max.
"M... me?" Max stammered. "I'm... not as good as these two."
"Yeah, if she doesn't pass, the rest of us still get our lightsabers, right?" Chloe asked.
Rachel frowned disapprovingly and punched Chloe's forearm. "You got this, sweetie!" She cheered.
"I don't know if I'm ready..." Max conceded.
"I'll be the judge of that, if you don't mind." Plo Koon replied.
Nervously, Max crossed the room, and joined Chloe and Rachel at the weapons rack.
Rachel held one of her shoulders, reassuringly. "You're gonna do great!" She whispered.
Chloe nudged her other shoulder playfully. "I was just kidding, you know. You're way better than you think you are."
Max carefully scanned the rack. Even though she wasn't as confident with a saber as her friends, she did have a favourite. It was one with a latticed, leather grip, and a metallic, inverted dome-shaped guard, almost like a sword, a member of a primitive species might wield. Additionally, it was a Shoto lightsaber, a shorter variant, usually only wielded in the offhand, by Jedi who preferred twin sabers, or by Jedi like Master Yoda, who were too small for regular lightsabers. Max enjoyed the control and maneuverability, that the smaller blade offered.
Weapon in-hand, Max joined Master Plo Koon on the training mat, and they both bowed deeply. With a sharp buzz of energy, the intimidating master activated his saber, the blue blade extending in her direction. He lifted it, and placed one foot forwards, in a defensive stance, waiting for her to make the first move. Max engaged her own, silver blade, held it to her side, and focused.
What Max lacked in skills with a saber, she more than made up for, in her unique and powerful perception. When Max concentrated, she could reach out through the Force, and see forwards and backwards in time, predicting enemies' attacks in combat, and sensing the history of places and objects.
There were many ways this fight could go. Max knew Master Plo favoured his left hand, so attacks from the right would glean better results, but even then, there would be countless ways the skilled master could counter. It didn't surprise Max that, after several seconds of searching, she as unable to sense a timeline in which she did anything that resembled defeating Plo Koon.
Before Max settled on a timeline to reenact, Master Plo shifted his stance and lunged with a horizontal slash. Max yelped in surprise, blocking the blue lightsaber with her own, but still being knocked down, into a crouching position. Plo Koon followed with a strike downwards, which Max acrobatically rolled clear of.
"Your power is a useful tool in battle, little one." The Kel Dor master advised. "But you must use it with your lightsaber, not use them alternately."
Plo Koon's words sank in. Of course, in a real fight, Max's enemies wouldn't wait for her to leisurely peruse the timelines. There were countless ways she could attack, too many to read in a fight, but if she waited for Master Plo to attack, her options of evading were far more manageable...
Max disabled her lightsaber blade and clipped it to the belt of her robe. Plo Koon's not-eyebrows lifted slightly. The master attacked, and Max effortlessly ducked the swing of his blade, backed away from the next, and backflipped over the third.
Plo Koon laughed, or at least, he breathed several times in quick succession. "Excellent, Padawan Celeste. However, evasion alone will not help you end a fight."
"Come on, Max! Fight back!" Chloe cheered.
"Don't be afraid!" Rachel added.
A moment in the future, Max saw Master Plo placing a Force Grip on her, much more difficult to evade, than his saber. Quickly silencing her inner anxieties, Max lunged, the second Master Plo lowered his weapon, and slashed with her own, swinging the hilt as she activated the blade. Plo Koon crouched under the attack, ducking the silver saber by inches, and following through with a Force Push before Max hit the ground, sending the padawan flying across the room, freezing in the air, moments before slamming into the wall.
"Excellent!" Plo Koon repeated. "Your timing was perfect. With a real lightsaber, a lesser Jedi would certainly have lost their head." He laughed again.
"Does that mean...?" Chloe breathed, as Max gently lowered to the ground.
Plo Koon looked between the children silently for a moment. "Pack your things, padawans. Tomorrow, we embark on a Gathering."
